Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Donuts

Actually I’ve never been a big donut fan before I turned vegan. I’d always take muffins and cookies over donuts any time. Mostly because I don’t like that a lot of them are super sweet. But now that I tried so many new things in the last couple of months, I thought what the heck why not just give vegan donuts a try. So I ended up with these delicious vegan chocolate hazelnut donuts with chocolate glaze.

It’s probably hard to believe, but I used kidney beans for the donut batter. At first, I was really skeptical about baking with beans. But when my black bean brownies turned out so delicious and moist a couple of weeks ago, I thought I really needed to use beans for other baked goods as well. However, I also added a cup of whole wheat flour this time, so the vegan donuts are not gluten-free, but it’s very easy to change the recipe. People would probably never guess that there are beans in these vegan donuts, they are just so damn chocolaty and delicious!! I made these for my family a couple of days ago and everybody just loved them! I’m telling you they were gone so fast! They are already used to my crazy bean recipes and weren’t even a bit surprised when I told them that I used kidney beans for the batter. Haha, they know me and my vegan recipes pretty well by now. ;-)

I bought a special donut baking tray a couple of weeks ago and I love how easy it is compared to frying donuts. First place the drained kidney beans in a blender together with brown sugar, almond milk, and cacao and blend until the mixture is smooth. Then transfer it to a medium bowl and stir in the whole-wheat flour, the baking powder, and vanilla. Spray the donut pan with cooking spray or grease it with vegan butter such as Earth Balance. Then either use a spoon to fill each donut or fill the batter into a Ziploc bag and cut off one edge. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the vegan chocolate hazelnut donuts for 9-11 minutes. Allow to cool down in the pan for a couple of minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.

In the meantime, make the chocolate glaze. Melt a 3.5-ounce package vegan dark chocolate either by using a microwave or place the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted, cover the donuts with the chocolate and sprinkle with hazelnut brittle. I used store-bought brittle, but of course you can also sub it with chopped hazelnuts if you want. Or use other decorations like sugar sprinkles or coconut flakes.

Did I make you hungry yet? Then I guess you should start baking. ;-) What’s your favorite donut recipe? My next recipe is definitely going to include some kind of pumpkin or pumpkin spice. I simply love eeeeverything with pumpkin in it these days!!

As always, I love hearing from you in the comment section below, on Facebook, or Instagram. :-)

4tablespoonshazelnut brittleYou can also sub it with chopped hazelnuts, or use sugar sprinkles or coconut flakes instead

Servings:

Instructions

Rinse and drain the kidney beans. Place them into a blender together with the brown sugar, almond milk, and cacao and blend until the mixture is smooth.

Then transfer it to a medium bowl and stir in the whole-wheat flour, the baking powder, and vanilla. Spray the donut pan with cooking spray or grease it with vegan butter such as Earth Balance.

Either use a spoon to fill each donut or fill the batter into a Ziploc bag and cut off one edge.

Preheat the oven to 350 °F and bake the vegan chocolate hazelnut donuts for 9-11 minutes. Allow to cool down in the pan for a couple of minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.

In the meantime, make the chocolate glaze. Melt a 3.5-ounce package vegan dark chocolate either by using a microwave or place the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted, cover the donuts with the chocolate and sprinkle with hazelnut brittle.

Comments

These are epic Sina!!!!!!!! That bite missing shot with the perfect gaze crackle just makes me want to steal them right from the screen! And brown sugar with chocolate is so rich, I just love everything about these donuts <3

Thanks, Natalie! :-) I actually never really liked donuts before I turned vegan, but I just love these. And the kidney beans make them so moist. If you’d told me this a couple of years ago, I probably would have laughed. I mean beans in sweets sounds pretty weird, right? But it’s amazing!! :-)

Omg seriously?! These look incredible! I could eat 5 right now! And I love that you used kidney beans instead. I have wanted to try those in some brownies instead of black beans, because they are much softer and would mush/blend so much better. I’m in love with these. All that cocoa powder would definitely mask the beans. Great recipe!

Thanks, Brandi! Haha! I could have eaten five of them too, but they were gone way too fast! :D I didn’t even have a chance to have a second one. ;-) But I don’t wanna complain, I love it when my family loves the vegan stuff I bring over. I definitely like baking with beans, it makes them so moist and yeah you’re right the cocoa powder totally masks the beans. You probably wouldn’t even guess that there are beans in them. :-)

Thanks, Joscelyn! So glad you like the recipe. You wouldn’t even guess that there are beans in them.You can’t taste them at all (the cocoa powder totally masks their taste), but they make the donuts so moist and chocolatey. If you make them, let me know how you liked them. ;-)

Thanks, Farrah! I know, isn’t it crazy that you can bake with beans? :-) I was pretty skeptical at first, but when I made black bean brownies a couple of weeks ago and they turned out absolutely delicious, I just had to come up with another bean recipe.

Oh my gosh, these donuts are amazing! I love that you made them with beans and that they’re vegan! My husband and I have a secret weakness to donuts so these are just calling my name! That glaze though! Swoon!

Thanks, Allison! No, you wouldn’t even guess that they are beans in them. They taste really chocolatey and the cocoa powder totally masks the beans. But they make the donuts really moist and I simply love baking with them. :-)

Thanks, Anu! So glad you like them! I was a bit skeptical at first, but when my black bean brownies turned out really delicious a couple of weeks ago, I just knew that I had to do some more baking with beans. :-)

Thanks, Debbie! You’re right, they really are pretty hard to find. I actually just had vegan donuts once when I was in New York and I haven’t seen any since then. But this recipe is so easy, so I’ll definitely make this more often. :-)

oh my…these look amazing! I love how few ingredients you need to make such a decadent dessert/breakfast. YUM! Your pics are absolutely beautiful. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you used beans. Great idea to add some protein!

OMG! Being lactose intolerant and allergic to cow milk I never really approached eating a donought. BUT your recipe is just amazing I almost feel as if i can acctually smell the chocolate in the air! I love chocolate! Thanks for sharing I will definitely try to make them.

Haha! I don’t know, Erin. I mean I didn’t hate them, but I just liked muffins so much better, because donuts are always pretty sweat. But my boyfriend can’t get enough of them, so he made me make this vegan version and I absolutely loved it!:-)

Hi Kellie, Sorry for the late reply! Unfortunately I haven’t tried making these with gluten free flour yet, but I’ll give this a try soon. :-) Have you seen my black bean brownies yet? They’re completely gluten-free, so maybe you’d like these too. :-)

Sorry for the late reply! Yes, I used unsweetened cocoa powder and they do taste sweet by themselves, but I’d definitely recommend giving them some glaze for extra flavor. :-) Hope you like them! Let me know if you give them a try. ;-)

Thank you so much for this recipe!
I made 12 cupcakes with oat milk instead of almond milk.
You can’t believe how delicious they are and how soft the texture is :)
I baked them fo almost 20 minutes and they are perfectly soft. I’ve never made such perfect cupcakes!

I actually convinced a lot of non-vegans! My best friend said that they are the best cupcakes she has ever eaten so far!
I recently found out that your blog is also available in German, is there any difference between the recipes? (I’m from Germany^^)

oh, that’s so great to hear! :-) So glad you guys liked them! No, there is no real difference except from the measurements (grams and cups). I started with the German blog, but over the time the English blog became my main focus. I try to post at least some of the recipes on the German blog as well, but right now I’m pretty busy with my master’s thesis, so unfortunately this doesn’t work out too great. But I usually post at least one new recipe on the English blog per week. :-)

I’m SO sorry for the late reply! I haven’t tried making them with coconut milk yet, but oat or soy milk work just as good. And I don’t see why coconut milk shouldn’t work. :-) Let me know how you liked them and how they turned out.

I made these donuts today. I made one batch because I couldn’t believe donuts with red kidney beans wouldn’t be disgusting. OMG!! They are absolutely amazing! My husband will eat these for a quick protein fix after playing hockey (7 g of protein) instead of eating a store bought protein bar. I made 3 dozen. I couldn’t get the dark chocolate cubes so I used 100g of dairy free mini chocolate chips instead. Also I used 1/2 C nuts instead of the brittle. Thanks for the great recipe.

Hi, Thanks for stopping by! I'm Sina and this is my recipe blog where I share heavenly simple and sinfully delicious vegan recipes.

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